Pile fabric and method of making the same



\ June 30, 1931. 'w. s. NUTTER 1,812,640

FILE FABRIC AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Original Filed Feb. 4 1923 Pi|e. k Undyed Warp I X I, I, W I

l I "I K I! Binding Muferi ol 2 \nvenTor.

William S. NuTTer B WMPM ATTy.

Patented June 30, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM S, N UTTER, OF SAN FORD, MAIN'E, ASSIGNOR TO GOODALL WORSTED COMPANY, OF SANFORD, MAINE, A CORPORATION OF MAINE PILE FABRIC AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Application filed February 4, 1928, Serial No. 252,029. Renewed January 12, 1931.

This invention relates to fabrics and especially to pile fabrics of the plush variety although it is equally a plicable to other kinds of pile fabrics. pile fabric presents a plurality of pile ends which are interlocked with interwoven filling and binder warp threads.

The color of the surface of the pile face of the fabric is determined by the color of the pile ends while the'color of the back face of the fabric is determined by the color of all three threads, i. e., the pile threads, the binder warp threads and the weft threads. In order to give the back faceof 1 a plush fabric a color which ,harmonizes with the color of the front or pile face it has heretofore been customary to ,use warp threads which are dyed to the proper color. It is a well-known fact that the process of dying threads reduces their strength by approximately so that dyed warp threads I are more a t to break and require more careful han ling in the various weaving operations than undyed warp threads. The 25 undyed threads are, however, relatively light colored or white in appearance and consequently in a plush fabric having undyed warp threads the portions of the und ed' threads which are exposed on the back ace so of the fabric will give a light color or tone to the back face of the fabric which may not harmonize properly with the color of the front face of the fabric that is determined by the color of the ile threads' It is one of the objects 0 my present invention to provide a novel plush fabric in which light-colored warp threads such as undyed warp threads may be used but which will have a back face of a color to harmonize 4 with the color of the pile threads, and also to provide a" novel method of making such a pile fabric.

In weaving any pile fabric especially if the fabric is one in which the pile ends are formed of mohair, it has been"thou"ht necessary to use a relatively large num er of binder warp threads to effectively bind the pile ends into the fabric. I

Another object of my invention is to provide improvements in pile fabrics by which position.

the pile ends will be firmly held in the fabric with a fewer number of binder warp threads than have heretofore been thought possible. A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved mohair pile fabric using mohair pile threads having kemp fibre therein and which is so constructed that the presence of the kemp fibres is not noticeable. In carrying out my invention I weave the pile fabric as usual b interlocking pile ends with interwoven fil ing and binder warp threads, except that the warp threads are of a light color such as would result by using warp threads formed partially or wholly. of undyed fibres. After the fabric has been woven I apply to the back face thereof a non-penetrative, water-resistant coating which is flexible and is not affected by heat and which also has suflicient color to color the back of the fabric to the desired shade. While various materials having these characteristics may be used for coating the back of the fabric I will refer by Way of example to a pyroxylin or nitro-cellulose com- Such a composition makes a coating which when applied to the, fabric will lie on the face thereof and will not penetrate into the fabric to any appreciable extent; it is flexible so that it will not crack by bending or folding the fabric; it is water resistant and is not affected by heat; and it also has a binding effect. Merely for the sake of convenience I will refer hereinafter to this oating material as p'yroxylin but I wish it understood that this expression is used merely in a descriptive sense and not With the idea of limiting the practice of the invention to any particular substance. I Before the fabric has the coating applied to the back thereof the undyed or partially undyed warp threads, which are of a light or white color because of their undyed condition, show through on the back of the fabric somewhat giving it a speckled appearance which is not considered desirable and which; unless corrected would render the fabric more or less unsalable.

The ap lication of the yroxylin to the back of t e fabric provi es a pyroxylin coating which is localized on the back of the binding material to the back of the fabric is fabric since the pyroxylin does not penetrate into the fabric to any extent but in effect forms a coating on the back face only of the fabric. This pyroxylin coating serves two purposes. In the first place, the layer of colored pyroxylin overlies the portions of the light-colored warp threads exposed on the back of the fabric and by so doing colors said portions so that the back of the fabric presents a color which is determined by the color of the pyroxylin coating. This color, of course, can be such as to harmonize entirely with the color of the front or pile face of the fabric as determined by the pile threads.

In the second place, the layer or coating of pyroxylin by its engagement with and adhesion to the portions of the warp threads, weft threads and pile threads which are exposed on the back of the fabric serves to assist in tying in the pile ends and thus preventing them from becoming loosened. In

fact, this tying-in effect of the pyroxylin coating is such that it is possible to produce a satisfactory pile fabric by using fewer binder warp threads than has heretofore been thought necessary. In other words it is possible to initially weave the pile fabric with what .would be a deficiency of warp threads under normal conditions, such deficienc being made good by the binding effect o the pyroxylin. I

In weaving plush fabrics it is usual to use two binder warps and a pile warp but by providing the pile fabric with a coating of p roxylin or other binding material on the ack face I find that it is possible to weave a satisfactory plush fabric by using only one binder warp. The binding action of the pyroxylin coating on the pile ends is sufficient so that it takes the place of the threads of one of the binder warps. The

reduction in the number of warp threads obviously decreases the expense of manufacturing the fabric and as the expense of applying the coating of pyroxylin or other less than the expense involved in the warp threads which may be discarded the result is that with my invention it is possible to produce a satisfactory plush fabric at a reduced expense.

In the making of some plushes and other pile fabrics the pile threads are made of mohair yarn, which is yarn made from the wool of the Angora goat. The Angora fleece includes not only the fineand soft hairswhich are desirable in the mohair yarn and which will readily take a dye, but also more or less of the :so-called kemp hair or fibre which is relatively coarse and stiff, and which is white and will not takea dye.

If in making mohair yarn the kemp fibres are left in the yarn it will, when dyed, present a streaky appearance due to the presence of the white undyable kemp fibres. Consequently, it has heretofore been necessary to comb the fleece of the Angora goat until all the kemp fibre is removed before spinning the yarn therefrom. In combing out the kemp fibre many of the fine, soft fibres are lost and as a result the mohair yarn is relatively expensive.

With my invention I find that it is pos sible to use a mohair yarn for the ile thread which has more or less of the emp fibre therein without in any way detracting from the appearance of the fabric.

When the pile fabric is woven with the light-colored or undyed Warp threads, such threads will be slightly visible on the pile face of the fabric especially at such places as the fabric may be doubled back on itself. The extent to which the light colored or white undyed warp threads show on the pile. face of the fabric is not sufiicient to give the face of the fabric a s eckled or'undesirable appearance but it gives the front of the fabric a sufficiently variegated appearance to break up any streaky appearance which might result from the presence of the kemp fibres in the pile threads. Wherever a kemp fibre appears in the pile face or pile ends it will tend to show because of the fact that it is stiffer and somewhat coarser than the other fibres of the mohair yarn and because it retains its-white appearance since it will not take a dye. The presence of these kemp fibres would tend to give the pile surface of the fabric a more or less streaky appearance but where the fabric is made with lightcolored or undyed binder warp threads the light color of such warp threads shows through the pile face of the fabric to a sufficient extent to break up the strcaky aphaving more or less of the kemp fibres therein. Such a yarn is considerably less expensive than one from which all the kemp fibres are removed and hence for this reason also my invention results in decrea ing the cost of the manufacture of pile fabric.

Another advantage resulting from my invention is that the use of light-colored warp threads facilitates the weaving of the fabric because the Weaver can see the weav ing operations much better and can watch his work with much less tiring effecton the eyes than when weaving on dark colored warp threads. Furthermore, there is an added advantage when undyed warp threads are used because the undyed warp threads are considerably stronger than the dyed warp threads and an undyed warp will ususally have very many less knots in it than a dyed warp. This is because the stronger fibres. Such a warpthread might result from spinning a mixture of undyed and dyed fibres or by twisting together a strand of undyed fibres and a strand of dyed fibres. Hence the term undyed warp threads as used herein is intended to cover threads which are made either entirely of undyed fibres.

It is thelight color of the warp threads which is effective in breaking up the streaky appearance caused by the presence of the kem so ar as this feature of the invention is concerned the desirable light or white color for the warp threads may be secured in any suitable way.

The operations of securing, dyeing or finishing fabric after it comes from the loom are in no ways afl ected by thepresence. of the pyroxylin coating. In some fabrics, such for instance as those in which the pyroxylin coating is relied upon for binding the pile threads into the fabric or for giving strength to. the fabric, it is hi hly desirable that the coating should be app ied'just after the fabric comes from the loom and before 7 it is subjected to the subsequent finishing operation because the presence of this coat-- in will prevent injury to the fabric while it 1s being finished. In other fabrics, where the pyroxylin coating is not required for giving strength to the fabric, during the nishing operations such coating may be applied either before or after said finishing operations or at any stage after the fabric leaves the loom.

As stated above I have, for. convenience, used herein the term pyroxylin as descri tive of the flexible non-penetrating waterand heat-resistant coating material but the invention is not necessarily limited. to a pyroxylin material as any coatingmaterial having the desired characteristics would answer the purpose. Hence the term pyroxylin is used herein as indicating almaterial having the above characteristics rather than having certain chemical ingredients. The drawingshows in a conventional way a pile fabric embodying the invention. The warp threads are indicated at 1, the filling or partially fibres in the pile threads and hence threads at 2, and the pile ends at 3, and the binding material at 4. It is to be understood however, that the drawing is not intended to illustrate a fabric structure except in a conventional way. The particular way of interlocking the warp threads, the

filling threads and the pile ends vary with the character of the pilefabric and as my invention is applicable to pile fabrics in which the various threads comprising the fabric are interwoven in different ways, I have thought best to simply show the fabric conventionally in the drawing.

I claim: r

1. A pile fabric having pile threads interlocked with interwoven filling threads and undyed warp threads, there being a deficiency of warp threads for binding the pile threads into the fabric, the back face of the fabric having a coating of colored pyroxylin applied. thereto which by its adherence to the exposed portions of the pile threads and warp threads not only binds the pile threads into the warp threads but also colors the portions of the undyed warp threads that are exposed on the back of the fabric.

2. A pile fabric comprising pile threads of mohair yarn having kemp fibres therein, said pile threads being interlocked with interwoven filling threads and undyed warp threads, said undyed threads showing through the pile face of the fabric sufficiently to break up the streaky appearance caused by the presence of the kemp fibres in the pile threads. v

3. The method of making a pile fabric which consists in interweaving pile threads, filling threads and undyed binder warp threads and then applying to the back of the fabric a coating of colored pyroxylin.

-4. The method of making a pile fabric which consists in interweaving mohair pile threads having kemp fibres therein with filling threads and undyed warp threads, and

then applying a coating of colored pyroxylin which consists in interweaving pile warp threads, filling threads and undyed warp threads, and in so doing employin a deficiency of warp threads for normal y tying the pile threads into the fabric, and then applying to the back face of the fabric a coating of colored binding material which not only makes good the deficiency in the number of warp threads but also applies a colored coating to the portions of the undyed warp threads which are-exposed on the back of the fabric.

6. A pile fabric having pile threads interlocked with interwoven filling threads and warp threads having undyed fibres therein, there being a deficiency of warp threads for binding the pile threads into the fabric, thecolor'ed pyroxylin applied thereto which by its adherence to the exposed portion of the pile threads and warp threads not only makes good the deficiency in the warp threads but also colors the portions of the warp threads exposed on the back face of the fabric.

7. A pile fabric having pile threads interlocking with interwoven filling threads and warp threads, the latter being threads with undyed fibres therein, and there being a deficiency of Warp threads for binding the pile threads into the fabric, the back face of the fabric having a coating of colored waterand heat-resistant, non-penetrative material which normally adheres to the portions of the thread exposed on said back face and thus makes good the deficiency in warp threads and which also applies a colored coating to "the portions of the warp threads exposed on said back face.

8. A pile fabric having pile threads interlocked with interwoven filling threads and undyed warp threads, said undyed threads showing through the pile face of the fabric and the back face of the fabric having a coating of colored binding material applied thereto which by its adherence to the exposed portions of the pile threads and warp threads not only binds the pile threads into. the warp threads but also colors the portion of the undyed warp threads that are exposed on the back of the fabric.

9. A pile fabric comprising pile threads of mohair yarn having kemp fibres therein, said pile threads being interwoven with filling, threads and warp threads which. are lighter in color than the pile threads, said. warp threads showingthrough the pile face of the fabric sufficiently to break up the streaky appearance caused by the presence of the kemp fibres in the pile threads.

10. A pile fabric havingpile threads interlocked with interwoven filling threads and warp threads which are lighter in color than the pile threads, said warp threads showing through the face of the fabric and the back face of the fabric having a coating of colored binding material applied thereto which by itsadherence to the exposed portions of the pile threads and Warp threads not only binds the pile threads into the warp threads, but also colors the portion of the warp threads that are exposed on the back of the fabric.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

.WILLIAM S. NUTTER. 

